Tahu's Concrete Angel
by Saya Moonshadow
Summary: When an abused little girl has no one to turn to except a small plastic toy, what can she do except dream of a better life?


**This is another somewhat old songfic that I feel deserves a place here. I'll let you guys decide if it's good or not.**

**l;khfoihfh8ey8qwhfbf ---disclaimer.**

**Tahu's Concrete Angel****  
****By: Saya Moonshadow**

_She walks to school with the lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back  
Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with linen and lace._

The girl was only in grade school, but she had seen more pain than most people in their seventies. With long dark hair and big, expressive green eyes, she was small and cute for her age.

Her name was Sarah Michelle Lawrence of 216 Mountain Lane, and she was six years old.

Skulking quietly past her mother's room, she slipped outside and walked to school. How she feared and despised that woman. Betty Lawrence was a cruel woman, prone to fits of unimaginable anger and rage, almost always resulting in some new bruises on her young daughter. The latest ones were on her arm, in the shape of the very fingers that had held her down as she was beaten.

Her only comfort was the small red LEGO Bionicle figurine that she had gotten as a Secret Santa present the year before from a classmate. The classmate in question had been a LEGO fan, and he had known that she liked red. So he did what any little boy would do. She had liked the gift immediately, the glowing pinkish eyes and vibrant red mask, along with the powerful-looking fire-sword. Just by looking at it, at the name engraved in the box, she had felt... safe.

It reminded her of the father she had never had.

Reaching into her long coat pocket, she felt the toy and squeezed slightly. It went with her everywhere, no matter what. The coat itself was an ugly brown and she didn't like it, but it had been the only one that was long enough to carry around a toy of that size.

And she needed comfort more than anything.

"Welcome, kids...welcome..." Ms. Dually, the teacher, said as the kids filed in her classroom. She bestowed a particularly heart-warming smile on Sarah as the little girl wandered in, her hands buried deep in her pockets, looking at the ground.

_The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask  
Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born._

"Please take your seats."

They all did.

"Now, as you all know, there is a test today. I hope you all studied your spelling words carefully?"

Some kids mumbled, but otherwise, the room was silent. Sarah just smiled and squeezed her Tahu figurine. She HAD studied, and she had had help. Not from her mother, of course not, but from Tahu. As she had gone over the list last night, under her covers with a flashlight, the toy had been with her, and he had helped her to remember. She remembered one of the words particularly well, because it was almost his name.

"Number one: hyena."

Scribbling.

"Number two: whale."

Scribbling.

"Number three: angel."

Scribbling.

"Number four: machine."

Scribbling.

Now for the one she had been waiting for! Sarah leaned forward expectantly, eyes bright.

"Number five: Lake Tahoe."

She giggled silently and wrote it down. Tahoe. It was almost exactly like Tahu. But different. But still the same. Or something.

Once the test was finished and the papers collected, the children all filed outside for recess.

As usual, Sarah sat by herself on the bench just in front of the fence. In her hand was her Tahu doll, shining red as vibrantly as the day he was made. She liked to think that this was the ONLY Tahu, the only one in the world, and indeed, the universe, whatever a universe was.

"What's wrong kiddo?" he asked, turning his masked face to hers.

"Just thinkin'." she replied, chewing thoughtfully on a leaf.

"About what?"

"Stuff."

"I liked how that one word sounded like my name. It was cool to know that I'm worshiped even here."

She giggled. "You sound real big-headed right now."

He shrugged. "It's true though. Back home, my name's a sacred word."

She looked puzzled. "Where is your home Tahu?"

His eyes glowed with remembrance. "It's a wonderful place, filled with happiness and laughter and adventure. It's an island in the middle of the ocean, with a volcano, snow, mines, lakes, forests, and deserts. It's... it's just perfect." His voice was heavy with longing.

"What's it called?" she breathed, entranced.

"It's called Mata-Nui."

"Where is it?" she asked, almost afraid he would tell her it didn't exist.

His eyes lit up and he grinned. "I can show you! That way, you can see it for yourself and not just hear about it!"

He looked so pleased with himself that she didn't have the heart to tell him that there was no way she could go there. Wordlessly, she put him back in her pocket and walked back to class.

X x X

"Where have you been?" Betty Lawrence snarled when her daughter walked in the door that afternoon.

"School." Sarah replied, walking to her room.

"Did I give you permission to go to that place? No I didn't! You're in for it now, you little--!"

_Through the wind and the rain,  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings,  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete Angel._

X x X

"I'll never understand why you let her do that to you." Tahu's voice floated out from her pocket as she painfully climbed the stairs after the incident in the kitchen.

She shrugged. "I have no choice Tahu. If Mom wants to hit me, she will, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"You could come to Mata-Nui with me."

She sighed. "There's no such place, Tahu. I asked Billy about it, and he told me. He said Mata-Nui was the place where your story is, and that it's just a make-believe island to make kids happy."

Tahu snorted peevishly. "And how would this Mr. Billy of yours know?"

"Cuz he's a fifth-grader, and they're smarter."

"Just because he'd older doesn't mean he knows more, Sarah." Tahu said quietly. "It's the person that counts, not the age. I happen to think that you're smarter than most of those excuses for humans."

"Tahu!" she scolded.

But she was laughing.

He wasn't though.

His eyes burned into hers as he whispered, "Someday Sarah, I promise I will get you out of here and into a place where you're loved."

X x X

The next day, Sarah woke up early to avoid her mother and set off to school. She arrived an hour before it actually began, but she didn't care. She sat on the swing and swung gently, watching the leaves float by on the wind.

She didn't notice the woman walking through the gates behind her.

_Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the light  
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it'll be too late._

"Sarah?"

She jumped, looking behind her. Oh good, it was only Ms. Dually. If it had been her mother...

"H-hello, miss," she said shakily, getting up. The teacher smiled at her. "What's a young girl like you doing here at such an early hour?"

Sarah smiled back, walking with her to the classroom. "Nothin'. I just came early, is all."

"Quite early," Ms. Dually remarked and opened the door. Then, "What's that in your pocket?"

Sarah smiled proudly and took her toy out. "His name's Tahu. I got him for Secret Santa last year. He's a Bionicle. Look!" She showed him to the teacher.

"What a pretty toy!" Ms. Dually smiled, taking him and examining him. He winked at Sarah as he was turned over again. She winked back.

"Do you mind if I keep him on my desk for the day? That way, everyone could see him."

"Oh yes!" Sarah's eyes sparkled with excitement. She thought she heard Tahu say, "Goddamn..." but dismissed it as nothing. She'd tell him off later for swearing.

X x X

She walked back inside that afternoon and up to her room, taking off her coat. "So, did you enjoy your glory-day, Tahu?" she asked, laughing.

No answer.

"Tahu?" She searched her pockets frantically, but no Tahu. Oh no! She must have left him at school, on Ms. Dually's desk!

"I gotta go back!" She put her coat back on, but never made it to the door.

"You're staying right here, Sarah Michelle Lawrence. And you're gonna regret ever being born!"

Sarah Michelle Lawrence screamed in terror as her mother's fist connected with her cheek.

_Through the wind and the rain,  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings,  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete Angel._

X x X

Ms. Dually was cleaning her desk and smiling. It was about 7:30 PM, and she wanted to go home and rest. Her hand brushed something hard and plastic. Oh no! It was Sarah's little toy, Tahu, she had called him. She had to return him. Lucky for her she knew where the kid lived.

Packing her briefcase, she tucked the bright red toy under into her purse and set off.

She could have sworn she heard someone say, "Hurry, hurry! Sarah's in trouble!"

... but there was no one there.

X x X

The doorbell rang, but Betty and Sarah Lawrence were both too busy to answer it. And indeed, Sarah was in no condition to.

Ms. Dually rang the bell again, wondering at why no one had answered. The lights were on, as was the TV, she could see the glow through the window, so someone was home, right?

She tried the door. To her surprised relief, it was open. She pushed it open. No one.

She jumped in shock when a voice whispered, "Upstairs..." She whirled around, but there was no one there. She must be hearing things, that was the second time she had heard that voice!

But she went up the stairs.

The doors were all locked with the exception of one.

And the scene in that small, pink room made her scream.

A blonde woman was repeatedly kicking at a small, unmoving shape on the floor, with dark hair fanning out around it.

Sarah did not make a sound at all as her mother kicked her.

Even as Ms. Dually's fingers pressed the buttons on the cell phone, as she tugged and pulled at the cruel mother's arm, as she screamed and pleaded with her to stop, Betty Lawrence did not stop, and was finally dragged away by the police, still trying to get at the small, still shape that had once been her living, breathing daughter.

_A statue stands in a shaded place,  
An angel girl with an upturned face  
A name is written on a polished rock,  
A broken heart that the world forgot._

X x X

She woke up in a strange place. It was warm...strangely so. It took her a minute to realize that she wasn't in her room anymore. Or even in her district, for that matter. Blazing red came in through the windows of the strange room she was in, and shouts and laughter could be heard. She was lying in a big bed, with red sheets. It was a warm bed, warmer than her cot had been, at least.

She slowly stood up and walked out the door. Seven tall beings stood in a circle outside, all talking at once and making most of the noise.

They all stopped when she walked up to them. One, a tall red one with a red mask and two glowing swords of fire, smiled at her.

"I know you." he said.

She nodded shyly and smiled back. Tahu Nuva picked her up and brought her into the circle. "Sarah, I'd like you to meet the Toa, Pohatu, Onua, Kopaka, Lewa, Gali, and Takanuva."

She giggled as the six crowded around her. She liked them a lot.

They reminded her of the family she had never had.

"Will she be staying with us?" the one called Gali asked, in a sweet and gentle voice, looking up at Tahu.

He nodded. "That is, if she wants to."

Sarah Michelle Lawrence, formerly of 216 Mountain Lane, laughed and hugged his neck.

"You kept your promise, Tahu...I'm home."

She whispered the last part in his ear again.

"I'm home..."

_  
Through the wind and the rain,  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings,  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete Angel._

X x X

**AN: Just cleaned up some of the grammar and a couple of typos, nothing big...yeah. Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
